US army helicopter crashes in southern Japan; 7 injured

TOKYO: A US army helicopter crashed during a training mission on Wednesday while landing on a Navy ship off of Japan’s southern island of Okinawa, injuring seven people and damaging the aircraft, officials said.

The H-60 helicopter made a hard landing on the Navy cargo vessel USNS Red Cloud around 30 kilometers east of Okinawa, US Forces Japan said in a statement, adding that the cause of the incident was under investigation.

Okinawa is home to most of the tens of thousands of US troops in Japan.

The injured were transported to a Navy hospital, the statement said. Their conditions were not immediately clear. The other 10 people aboard the helicopter were not hurt, said Japanese coast guard spokesman Shinya Terada.

Japanese national broadcaster NHK showed video of the helicopter sitting on the cargo ship, with its tail broken off and covered with an orange tarp.
[AP]